Automobile chases are becoming quite commonplace in the landscape of our society. This is absolutely astonishing given the fact that law enforcement officials are endowed with such powerful means for apprehending fleeing suspects. Many varied technologies are available for disabling an automobile that is being pursued by the police.
One common method employed by law enforcement to disable a fleeing vehicle is to deploy a tire puncturing device. These types of devices are typically deployed in front of a fleeing suspect in hopes that the tires of the vehicle become compromised. This results in a greatly diminished capacity for speed and generally brings the pursuit to a safe completion. One of the problems with this particular method of disabling a fleeing vehicle is that the tire puncturing device must be deployed ahead of the vehicle. The problem with this notion is that the suspect may choose to alter course at the last minute or otherwise evade the tire puncturing device.
Even more sophisticated means for disabling a fleeing vehicle have now been developed. For example, the electronics in the vehicle may be substantially destroyed, or incapacitated by means of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Hence, EMP “guns” are becoming available to disable feeing vehicles. One problem with this technology is that it tends to be indiscriminate. Hence, not only is the suspect's vehicle disabled, but other electronic devices that are inadvertently subjected to the electromagnetic pulse can also be damaged or destroyed.
Also available, both as an aftermarket product and as original equipment in later model automobiles are devices that can disable a moving unless a special electronic key is allowed to interact with the vehicle's ignition system. These systems, though, are not widely deployed and do nothing in the case where the fleeing suspect is in possession of the special electronic key (e.g. the suspect owns the vehicle).
What is needed is a means for terminating a pursuit anymore discriminate manner. Any such means must be capable of disabling the vehicle in a safe and efficient manner. If such a capability is provided in an automobile, one problem that must be overcome is that any additional circuitry necessary to enable the means must be installed in a vast majority of automobiles in order to provide law enforcement an effective means for disabling a fleeing suspect.